God of War (PS4)

[Cube]

1 hour ago, bob said:

Oh man, now I kind of want to carry on playing God of War to find out what you're talking about. I haven't played any of the other games though, so maybe there's no point?

THAT moment is still great if you haven't played any other game. Even without knowing the details, the game does a good job at portraying the importance of it. 

[Eddage]

Yeah you don't really need to know the history, as Cube said the significance is made apparent by the scene. If you're really worried about missing out then there are plenty of recap videos on Youtube that you can watch, I definitely wouldn't recommend going back and playing all the other games just so you can get a bit more out of the moment. 

[Hero-of-Time]

It's a bit like MCU movies. You can easily go in and watch and enjoy most of them without seeing any of the others but you miss out on certain nods and references. 

The other GoW games are fantastic and are well worth playing regardless.

[bob]

Hmm, I might drop the difficulty right down then and try and plough through it for the story.

[drahkon]

My NG+ journey continues.

I've neglected upgrading/purchasing new gear because it was a little easy from the get-go, but man...it sure did become a lot more difficult pretty quickly Purchased my first NG+ armor piece and it made quite a difference.

Spoiler

I forgot how annoying Atreus gets. That little cunt

And the obligatory screenshots and the obligatory spoiler warning:

Spoiler

 

[drahkon]

My NG+ playthrough is coming to its end. Well, I'm nearing the end of the story, at least.

Spoiler

The final encounter with Baldur is so good. Intense, spectacular, emotional.

And Freya's words to Kratos after he kills her son...

I will rain down every agony, every violation imaginable, upon you.
I will parade your cold body from every corner, of every realm and feed your soul to the vilest filth in Hel.
That is my promise!”

Goosebumps...

The sequel's going to be interesting

Also did some exploring and finished a few sidequests that I didn't on my Give Me God of War playthrough. Lots of fun fights and puzzles to solve.

Spoiler

The Valkyries are pretty tough.
With my gear I can usually get through normal encounters pretty easily but the 7 Valkyries that I've beaten so far have proven to be a worthy challenge

Managed to get 100% completion in Alfheim and Muspelheim (the latter had some very difficult challenges). A few more realms to go

It's been great to revisit some areas with Mimir giving more insight to the lore. Speaking of, I went ahead and got myself the audiobook and a digital copy of Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. It's supposed to be a good read/listen. Gonna be great to get to know the mythology that started in my country.

As always, more screenshots. Proceed with caution, end-game spoilers ahead:

Spoiler

 

Edited March 14, 2021 by drahkon

[Mr-Paul]

I'm also playing this, but for the first time thanks to the PS+ collection. Didn't realise when I picked it that it'd be more Norse mythology having just spent 120 hours on Assassin's Creed Valhalla 😂 

Anyway, enjoying it so far, up to Alfheim. It truly is a gorgeous game. The main thing I am not enamoured with is all the skill trees and armour upgrades and modifications etc. I feel like there's too much to tinker with and I'm unsure whether I should be spending money upgrading gear I have, or saving it and waiting to find better gear out in the wild. 

Also just wanted to check if everyone else finds it oddly hilarious whenever Kratos says boy 😁

[drahkon]

5 minutes ago, Mr-Paul said:

Also just wanted to check if everyone else finds it oddly hilarious whenever Kratos says boy 😁

You must've missed the weeks after the game's release...there were a million "BOI" memes

6 minutes ago, Mr-Paul said:

The main thing I am not enamoured with is all the skill trees and armour upgrades and modifications etc. I feel like there's too much to tinker with and I'm unsure whether I should be spending money upgrading gear I have, or saving it and waiting to find better gear out in the wild. 

When I first played the game I had to upgrade regularly. There was no other way to dish out enough damage to even stand a chance.
I don't know which difficulty you chose but I'd say that you could wait until you have to fight a battle that takes a lot longer/is more difficult than the ones before and then spend some resources on new gear/skills.

Eventually, you will have enough XP/Hacksilver/material to get equipment that'll get you through the story. Certain side activities are made a lot more "accessible" by getting some high-end gear. If you want to do some/all of those and don't improve your equipment, you're going to have a bad time

[drahkon]

God of War NG+ been conquered.

There wasn't much of the story left after my previous update, but I did go ahead and get 100% completion.
Some of the side quests and battles were quite challenging but with the right gear and a few lucky breaks I managed to emerge victorious from them all

I made the right choice with the second highest difficulty for my NG+ run. The final battles and side quests pushed my God of War skills to the limit. I think Give Me God of War would've been a matter of "you die in one hit" for the majority of the playthrough. Not a fan of that

Anyways, as always: Screenshots and a spoiler warning!

Spoiler

And there it is:

What a game.
Still can't believe it's a PS4 game. Its single-take presentation is a technical achievement that I haven't seen in any other video game. I don't know if there's another game out there that does the same thing. If there isn't, God of War is, in my opinion, revolutionary.

Taking aside the game's technical marvel, it shines in almost every other aspect, too.
The story and how its told...emotional from start to finish. There's an odd bit about Atreus but I think it had to be done this way due to the nature of the game:

Spoiler

His sudden shift in tone and attitude after he got told he's a god.
It happened way too quickly, but given that there wasn't really a way to include a time-skip without giving up the single-take presentation it was fine in the long run.

Fights are always intense, brutal and absolutely satisfying. You can kind of feel each attack and hit. It's a joy. A little more boss variety would've been nice, though.
Exploring the world is great, too. The PS4's technical limitations come through, though, once you have to (fast) travel a lot (only happens when you want to 100% the game) but it's made enjoyable by Mimir, Kratos and Atreus sharing stories and lore.

God of War is a masterpiece. My personal game of the generation and the best reboot I've ever played. It's new but still keeps what made the entire series so great.

[drahkon]

For those who have finished God of War and wanna know why the story and how its told is very well done, take a look at the following video.
For all the others, be aware! It spoils pretty much every single thing of this game and a few aspects of the series.

 

[Hero-of-Time]

Dude, that is so freaky. I literally just watched that video this afternoon. Cracking watch. 

[drahkon]

25 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Cracking watch. 

Indeed.
I don't subscribe to a lot of YouTube channels but Untangling God of War made me subscribe to this one. Will definitely give his other videos a watch.

[Hero-of-Time]

9 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Indeed.
I don't subscribe to a lot of YouTube channels but Untangling God of War made me subscribe to this one. Will definitely give his other videos a watch.

I came across his Ocarina of Time video last year and loved it to bits. Again, well worth a watch. 

[drahkon]

On 3/10/2021 at 9:06 PM, Hero-of-Time said:

Did you ever watch the making of the game that Sony posted on YouTube?

Watching it right now.

The buildup to the E3 reveal is done very well in the documentary. I mean, we all know how incredibly positive the reveal was received, but seeing the people involved in making God of War losing their freaking minds was something else
Cory Barlog especially...his explanation on what was going on in his head before E3 2016 is something I've felt a few times. Not to that extent and it definitely wasn't about something as huge as a video game but I could relate to his ordeal somewhat.
Speaking of Cory, he seems like a wonderful person. Funny, charismatic and at times brutally honest. I guess it's what you need to be when you have that kind of role in the development of something big.

Well...gonna watch the final 60 minutes now.

[Hero-of-Time]

Let me know what you think of that scene that involved Christopher Judge where...

Spoiler

He channeled his own personal demons in order to pull off that moment. I was practically in tears when he started to break down. 

For me, it shows why it’s so important to get voice acting right and how it elevates a game. Going for a non-union, cheaper option is what some companies opt for but I think getting someone who is right for the part, no matter the cost or time it takes to find, is always the better option. He owned the role of Kratos and to think, he wasn't even sure about auditioning for it! 

[drahkon]

I didn't expect that documentary to send me to so many different places emotionally...

3 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Let me know what you think of that scene that involved Christopher Judge where...

I was in tears...makes that moment even more incredible.

4 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

For me, it shows why it’s so important to get voice acting right and how it elevates a game.

As someone who values acting very highly in movies, series and video games, I agree. Even if a story isn't that great...if the actors put in their all, they can elevate it to a higher level.
In the case of God of War, where the story and everything else is already on a level that's rarely achieved, the voice actors (and motion cap actors) basically push it over the top - in a positive way.
And Christopher Judge steals the show. Not to take anything away from the others, but his personal demons, as you put it, make it real.

We always forget or push aside the fact that most famous people (actors, musicians, comedians, artists) have demons. Horrible, terrifying, crippling demons. The fact that they're able to control them, channel them and put the energy into something creative/productive always astounds me. I often wish I was able to do exactly that with my demons (not that they are as monstrous as others').
For now I have to "live with" the joy, genuine joy, I get when I see other people accomplishing that.

Raising Kratos makes me appreciate God of War even more. Not only is it an achievement for video games, but I think it's an achievement for everyone involved and every single one of them should be proud (which I'm sure they are).
The documentary is also a reminder of what it takes to create something. It's not only a matter of having talent and working hard, it's also a matter of making sacrifices, dealing with issues, resolving conflicts, embracing the good and being passionate. It's life condensed into one project.

I wish there were more videos like this out there.
We see that side of the video game industry very rarely.

[Hero-of-Time]

Yeah, it annoys me that the industry is still mostly stuck in its secretive ways. There should be more documentaries like this. Let gamers see the various creative processes and help them appreciate what goes into making a game. 

[Mr-Paul]

Finished the story of this today. What a treat. Both to play and visually. 

My main criticism of it was that it wasn't longer. Don't tease me with all of those nine realms and not let me visit them all! Was shocked that I was approaching the end of the story having not visited more of them. I understand that these will likely come on a sequel, but it was just a bit of a bummer. 

On a similar note, the fact a couple of the realms have only opened post-story is a bit frustrating. I completed the game at Level 5 on normal difficulty, but so much left to do (Valkyries etc.) requires a higher level. I want to see more of this world, but without the main story to pull me along, I have less motivation to do much more. 

So yeah. Absolutely loved it, but with minor frustrations about the structure. This was my first God of War experience, and now I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel to see what happens next to Kratos and Boy.

[bob]

One of New Years resolutions was to play more games, and I told myself I couldn't buy new ones until i'd completed my backlog a bit. 

I got part of the way through this before I got bored and started something else, so I thought i'd at least try and finish off the story. 

Just started on the main quest to get the chisel tip to get to Jotunheim. I decided to just skip all the obvious side quests and collectables and focus on the main story, and i'm enjoying it a lot more because of it. A lot of the collectable puzzles are a bit fiddley and break up the flow of the game. 

I still hate the control scheme. Next time I boot it up, I might explore and see if I can set up a custom one, or at least one that doesn't put the damn attack buttons on the shoulders. Who the hell thought that was a good idea?! 

[bob]

Finished the main story last night.

Spoiler

So, ignoring all the side quests and focusing on the main story was the best thing to do. I very much enjoyed following the plot to this - the game is incredibly cinematic and is like watching a film at times. Breaking away from the story to go and open a hidden chest really breaks up the flow of the game, and i think it suffers from it.

Pros:

The story is incredibly well told, and all of the dialogue between the three main characters was a joy to listen to. It really breaks up the travel time between locations, which was good, because that bit would be very boring otherwise. Getting about is pretty dull, so it's good that they give you something to follow as you do so.

I adored the huge scale of the world. The giants, the World serpent, the enormous eagle thingy in Helheim - all gave me huge megalophobia chills. It was awesome.

The music is great, especially the main theme. I found myself humming it all day, to the confusion of my wife.

I actually thought the game was a really good length. The main plot took just the right amount of time to complete before I got frustrated, and i'm sure if you wanted to, there is enough extra stuff to keep you playing for a really long time. I had a quick scan through the trophies, but I didn't get the urge to do any of them, so I think i'm just going to leave it there.

 

Cons:

I could not get on board with the combat. I know some people say it's the best combat in any game, but I found it fiddly and confusing. I kept switching weapons when I meant to throw one, or Atreus would fire an arrow when I wanted to attack. None of it seemed intuitive. It didn't help that I suck.

Although the game is built to look like an open world, it really isn't. It's basically just a load of fairly linear corridors, peppered with rooms to fight in. It annoyed me when I couldn't climb over a small hump in the ground, and was forced to walk along the path that had been set for me. And it seemed ridiculous that Kratos, a god, could only climb up special crevices, and could only climb down specific places rather than just jumping down.

 

 

Anyway, I would give the game a solid 7.5/10

 

 

 

 

 

[Julius]

Not to concern anyone, but today is the fifth anniversary of the game's release...

Where the heck does the time go?! 

[Julius]

At it again